Changeling

From 17th-century Lancashire witch-trials to the gangs of modern-day east London, Changeling takes on our myths and monsters.

These are poems of place that journey from Zennor to Whitby, Broadstairs to Brick Lane. Whether relocating the traditional ballad ‘The Twa Corbies’ to war-torn Iraq or giving us a glimpse of the ‘beast of Bolton’, Changeling is a collection about our relationship with the Other: fear and trust, force and freedom, and the stories we tell ourselves.

“Changeling witnesses Clare Pollard brilliantly re-rub some old English folktales and transcribe them to our own troubled times, as well as offer up some 40 of her own bewitching new compositions.”Dazed & Confused

“Her work really is emphatically of our time, capturing the world in its beauties and horrors in writing that’s technically superb, but which also has what, if I was a sentimental chap, I’d call heart.” Ian McMillan, The Verb

"Clare Pollard made a splash on the poetry scene as a precocious adolescent in the late 90s, and her fourth collection represents, somewhat oddly, the work of an established writer who is barely out of her 20s. Yet while Changeling sees Pollard retaining her youthful style – a brand of raw, freewheeling confessionalism both cynical and heartfelt, and brashly contemporary in its product and pop culture references – the book also marks, as its title suggests, a new direction."Ben Wilkinson, The Guardian

"Pollard's elegance of expression ensures such poems are still a pleasure - as well as a discomfort - to read."Rina Buznea, Time Out

“Clare Pollard has so much youthful talent that it’s alarming... I loved the headlong rush of it all.”Catherine Czerkawska, Mslexia

Clare Pollard was born in Bolton in 1978. After studying at Cambridge she moved to London, where she now lives. She has published three other poetry collections with Bloodaxe: The Heavy-Petting Zoo (1998), which she wrote while still at school, Bedtime (2002) and Look, Clare! Look!, a GCSE set-text in Wales (2005). Her first play, The Weather (2004), premièred at The Royal Court Theatre. She works as an editor, broadcaster and teacher, and co-edited the Bloodaxe anthology Voice Recognition: 21 Poets for the 21st Century (2009) with James Byrne. She is a Royal Literary Fund Literary Fellow at Essex University.